A Failure of Democracy: A Current Postscript English Education at the start of the 21st Century[1] John Abbott, in a discussion with his assistant of five years Jim Robinson, reflects on the political and philanthropic landscapes, and the rise of globalised solutions… Jim Robinson (JR): I came to work with the Initiative in September 2010, […]

If not since the beginning of time, at least over the past half dozen millennia, older generations concerned about the future wellbeing of their societies have pondered the question (and the mystery) of how young people learn. So profound was Confucius’ observation two and a half thousand years ago; “tell me and I forget, show […]

The adolescent brain, being “crazy by design”, is a critical evolutionary adaptation that has built up over thousands of generations, and is essential to our species survival. Adolescence forces young people in every generation to think beyond their own self-imposed limitations and exceed their parents’ aspirations1. Adolescents are not just over-grown children, or immature […]

“Walk a little slower, Daddy”, said a child so small. “I’m following in your footsteps, and I don’t want to fall. Sometimes your steps are very fast, sometimes they’re hard to see; So walk a little slower, Daddy, for you are leading me.”1 (Continued Th. 88) Probably nothing separates us more from the […]

“License my roving hands, and let them go Behind, before, above, between, below Oh my America, my new found land, My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned”1 Humans have been preoccupied with sex from long before our fantasising ancestors produced phallic carvings, painted on cave walls, or used all the imagery of John […]

Eat five pieces of fruit and vegetable daily. Limit your consumption of meat; eat wild grains and fish, reduce salt and sugar. Exercise regularly. Talk a lot and tell stories; don’t work too hard; get plenty of sleep, and share and share alike1. Humans have been using their brains to think, and their stomachs […]

Go-go capitalism operates as an ever-quickening treadmill. None of our ancestors lived in such a complicated civilisation. There are no precedents to guide us, no wisdom that wasn’t made for a simpler age. We have changed our environment more quickly than we know how to change ourselves. In times gone by self-sustaining communities with […]